Mini Penny Blog

Monday, December 31, 2012

What a year. I feel like that the person I was a year ago has grown so much to where I am now. To be honest, I've had some rough times over the past five years or so — struggling with jobs and the like — and 2012 had its trials. Money was short and I was living in a big city. It was a big change from Columbus, but obviously a good one.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

This year I treated myself to what I wanted most for Christmas — not an iPad or a new pair of fancy shoes, but a trip home to Chicago. I'll be back in my favorite city from this evening until next Wednesday night and I'm looking forward to seeing lots of people that I love and miss.

If you don't hear from me, I wish the best of holidays to all of you. Drink eggnog, open gifts, and enjoy the company of your friends and family.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Yesterday was a rainy day in Philly and I got all cozy for a little brunch and shopping in Old City.

Under all the winter wear I decided to break out my new Fred Perry sweater. It's really soft and naturally I'm pretty in love with it.

I'm totally smitten over these new boots from Cat Footwear. I had no idea that they made non-work wear and was pretty shocked when they sent me an email about their products. I'm overly impressed by the quality of these boots and I love their versatility. The front buckle strap (is that the correct terminology?) snaps off and they can be worn as regular red boots! They're a fun statement boot, no doubt!

I love big scarves and last year I bought this exact same style (but in black) at the Urban Outfitters Surplus in Chicago. Once winter rolled around, I decided to pick it up in cream and grey as well. It's the comfiest eternity scarf ever! I was pretty happy to find out tonight that it comes in even more colors this season — definitely going to get the green one!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

On Friday I had the privilege of attending the 4ARTISTS1CAUSE event at Terminal 5 in NYC. For those of you not familiar with the event, some really wonderful people got together to help raise money for the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City in support of Hurricane Sandy Relief.

Aside from the fact that I love Grizzly Bear, it was fantastic to see Sleigh Bells, The Antlers, Cults, Converse, Fader, Urban Outfitters, Bowery Presents, and Terminal 5 all get together for a great cause. We sold out Terminal 5 and collectively raised ~$300,000 for the benefit.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

I dunno, everyone. The more time I spend in New York, the more I realize that I'm kind of in love with it. My slow adjustment to Philadelphia was flipped around a bit today when I made the two hour train ride to NYC for some shopping and touristy things. This is only my second time in the Big Apple — last time I was there for work and didn't get to see much.

Step one to having a great day: if your roommate wants to borrow one of your bowties, let him. In fact, encourage it. Here's Lou looking snazzy in a polka dotted BDG bowtie I picked up at the URBN Sample Sale.

One of my main focuses of the trip was to hit up the Fred Perry store. Yep, nailed this one. Immediately upon arrival to NYC, we went to Soho and found it. It was love at first sight, naturally. I spent a decent amount of time browsing and ended up purchasing the one shirt that I really had my heart set on. Absolutely swoon.

Here's me being derpy on the streets of Soho and trying to act cool in front of the FP Store. Did it work? Okay.

Afterwards, we went to the nearest UO (well, we ended up at three total for the day). There are lots of cool things happening in our stores for the holidays and I wanted to see them first hand! Some totally great spaces and staffs in NY!

We stopped by Red Bamboo for vegan popcorn shrimp. This is highly recommended. I would I could have tasted the entire menu!

Post-lunch we went to Brooklyn for the Fred Perry Surplus. It was to die for. I ended up grabbing two pieces from an earlier Amy Winehouse collection (the Amy button up and the checkered polo) and a great basic black sweater for less than what the new Amy leopard polo cost. Whoa. They had some serious deals.

And of course I had to be a tourist. I stopped by 30 Rockafeller center to see if Kelley's cousin Aidy (who is now a cast member on SNL. So proud of her!) could get Seth Meyers' number for me. Just kidding. I just wanted to look cool and pose.

And I once heard that there is a big tree in Rockafeller center, so I thought I'd check it out. It was pretty cool for a big ol' tree, don't you think?

Before leaving, we stopped at the Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal to visit my friend Stan. I posted about him ages ago when we played around Columbus together. It was my first time seeing him since and it was wonderful! The Apple Store set up in the Terminal was actually really fascinating. I had no idea it was there!

So, NYC, thank you for such a great time. I'll be back again on Friday, but until then... stay wonderful.

Monday, December 10, 2012

My mom's recipe for cookies is easily the best... ever. Okay, maybe I'm a little biased. But seriously, these are just perfect. I posted a vegan version of this recipe last summer and wanted to whip up a new batch (non-vegan, but super easy to swap out vegan ingredients!) using this organic honey I picked up at Terrain a few weeks ago. Recipe after the jump.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Everyone is all in a rage over Ugly Christmas Sweaters. They're funny, corny, and heck, who doesn't like a pom pom or two? Went I went on a search for Ugly Hanukkah Sweaters, however, I came up with very few results. The only once that came up in a search were $60+ — and they weren't even that great. I opted to make my own. Check out the full how-to after the jump.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

As mentioned in my November Review, I finally took the time to embrace Sephora this past week. I'm a big fan of Ulta, but there's a Sephora just a couple of train stops north of where I'm stay — hey, it's convenient and has so many wonderful samples. Despite not being a regular customer here, I have been signed up for their Beauty Insider program for a while.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

I'm one of those people who normally celebrates my birthday all week. But, given the whole I-don't-have-any-friends-in-Philly-yet thing, Lou and I went to the museum and shopping. Duh.

For starters, Lou made me a veggie breakfast.

I mixed a nice berry lipstick out of three shades and went on a mission to have fun... and find a tube of raspberry lipstick (more on that later this week...).

We ended up at the Franklin Institute, where we saw the Titanic exhibit. This is my third go at it — I saw it in Chicago at the age of eleven and in Columbus at twenty-four. I love it, it's really quite fantastic. Lou and I didn't pass up the opportunity to touch a cherub's butt at the Grand Staircase photo op.